Devices equipped for uni-directional communication do not have the capability to respond to received commands or to initiate communications with upstream devices. Uni-directional communication can limit the services that can be made available to a user. For example, such uni-directional devices do not support bi-directional services such as pay-per-view (PPV) services since uni-directional devices cannot report purchases. Similarly, uni-directional devices do not support video on demand (VOD), since the uni-directional devices cannot communication with the VOD servers. The present disclosure addresses these and other shortcomings relating to configuring devices.